[306] Res divina or ‘res divinae’ is a common prose expression. ‘Se referunt’ 2. 757.
[307] Obsitus aevo; covered with the signs of old age, wrinkles &c. Comp. Ter. Eun. 2. 2. 5, “Video sentum, squalidum, aegrum, pannis annisque obsitum.” Plaut. Menaechmi 5. 2. 4 has “consitus sum senectute.” One is half tempted to suspect that the similarity of form between these words and the noun “situs” (comp. with this passage 7. 440 “victa situ verique effeta senectus,” and with Ter. l. c., 6. 462, “loca senta situ”） may have influenced their usage, bringing about a similarity of sense for which there was no etymological warrant.
[308] Tenebat expresses the care of the old man, and also his slow motion, retarding his companions.
[309] Ingrediens 6. 157 note.
[310] Facilis, though agreeing with ‘oculos,’ qualifies the action of the verb. Aeneas readily turns to each object mentioned. Manilius 1. 645 has borrowed the phrase, “Circumfer facilis oculos.” Serv. quotes instances from Plautus and a work by Maecenas, the Symposium, where it is used of the effect of intoxication on the eyes. ‘Oculos fert omnia circum:’ comp. 2. 570.
[311] “Nec bene promeritis capitur” Lucr. 2.651. So “captus” is used frequently in Virg.
[312] Monumenta, traditions: comp. 3. 102, “veterum volvens monumenta virorum.”
[313] Romanae conditor arcis, of Pallanteum on the Palatine, where Romulus built his city and Augustus had a palace. Gossrau. Comp. G. 1. 499, “Romana Palatia;” Hor. Carm. Saec. 65, “Si Palatinas videt aequus arces.” Pal., Gud. (originally), and another of Ribbeck's cursives have ‘Evander.’
[314] Indigenae opposed to ‘Saturnus’ &c. v. 319. So Ennius attributes the Saturnian verse to the Fauns as the impersonations of rustic barbarism, “Versibus quos olim Fauni vatesque canebant” (A. 7. fr. 1), which may have been in Virg.'s mind. In 7. 48 Faunus is the grandson of Saturn. For other writers who have spoken of the Aborigines see Lewis 1 pp. 279 foll. Virg. recollected Lucr. 4.580, “Haec loca capripedes satyros Nymphasque tenere Finitimi fingunt et Faunos esse loquuntur.”
[315] The conception of men as originally born from stocks or stones is as old as Od. 19. 163, where Penelope playfully says to Ulysses, οὐ γὰρ ἀπὸ δρυός ἐσσι παλαιφάτου, οὐδ᾽ ἀπὸ πέτρης. So, according to one interpretation, Hesiod, Works 145, speaking of the brazen age, ἐκ μελιᾶν δεινόν τε καὶ ό̀βριμον. So the legend of Deucalion G. 1. 63, “Deucalion vacuum lapides iactavit in orbem Unde homines nati durum genus.” See Preller, G. M. 1, p. 63. Serv. rationalizes it into the sudden appearance of men from hollow trees or caves where they had taken up their abode. The view of primitive society which follows agrees generally with the well-known descriptions of Aesch. Prom. 447 foll., Lucr. 5.925 foll., and with the notions formed by such writers as Sallust and Tacitus: comp. Lewis l. c. The idea of a golden age, which Virg. attempts to incorporate with it, is really antagonistic to it.
[316] Mos, rule of life: comp. Lucr. 5.958, “neque ullis Moribus inter se scibant nec legibus uti,” and see on G. 4. 5. “Cultus” is coupled with “humanitas” by Caes. B. G. 1. 1: expressing, as Mr. Long remarks, the external signs of civilization, dress, house, food, &c. ‘Nec iungere tauros’ is again from Lucr. 5.933, “Nec robustus erat curvi moderator aratri Quisquam, nec scibat ferro molirier arva.”
[317] Gossrau comp. Hor. 1 Ep. 1. 12, “Condo et conpono quae mox depromere possim.” ‘Parcere parto,’ to practise economy. Med. has ‘rapto,’ though ‘parto’ seems to have been the original reading, and is restored by marks of transposition. “Parto fruuntur” G. 1. 300.
[318] Asper victu venatus, the huntsman's hard and scanty fare: ‘asper victu’ being opp. to “facilis victu,” 1. 445. ‘Rami:’ comp. G. 2. 500.
[319] Virg. after the Roman fashion identifies the Italian Saturnus with the Greek Kronos, who was dethroned and expelled from heaven by Zeus, and has given the fable a more Latin character, as well as gratified his own love of antiquarian etymology, by deriving ‘Latium’ from “lateo,” the hiding-place of Saturn. Serv. says Varro gave the same etymology, though for a different reason, “quod latet Italia inter iuga Alpium et Appennini.” ‘Primus’ may be taken in its obvious sense, ‘primus venit’ being i. q. “primus advena fuit” opp. to “indigenae:” or it may virtually = “tandem,” as in E. 1. 44 &c. ‘Aetherio Olympo’ 6. 579.
[320] Cerda comp. the account given by Lact. Div. Inst. 1. 14 from Ennius' Euhemerus, “qui (Saturnus) cum iactatus esset per omnis terras persequentibus armatis, quos ad eum comprehendendum vel necandum Iuppiter miserat, vix in Italia locum in quo lateret invenit.” There is perhaps a touch of Euhemerism in Virg.'s account, as is natural where a mixture of mythology and history is attempted.
[322] The meaning of ‘conposuit’ probably embraces both ‘indocile’ and ‘dispersum:’ ‘he united them and reduced them to order,’ ‘made them a nation:’ comp. 11. 599, “conpositi numero in turmas,” G. 3. 192, “conpositis gradibus,” G. 4. 417, “conpositis crinibus.” The structure of the line may remind us of 1. 62, “Inposuit regemque dedit” (observe “montis altos” immediately preceding).
[323] Maluit, “quam Saturniam,” says Forb. after Serv.: but the presumption that he would have called it Saturnia can hardly be supplied. ‘Maluit’ is probably i. q. “potissimum voluit,” chose.
[324] Aurea quae perhibent was restored by Heins., in place of “aureaque ut perhibent,” which is found in one of Ribbeck's cursives, and from a correction in another. ‘Fuere’ Med., Rom., ‘fuerunt’ Pal., Gud. There seems no choice between them, though Wagn. decides for ‘fuere.’ ‘Perhibeo’ is here construed like “voco.” Virg. has taken from the Five Ages of Hesiod (Works 90 foll.) just the idea of a golden age and of one of a baser metal, and blended this succession of ages with the succession of races in primitive Italy. Comp. 6. 792 foll., G. 2. 538.
[325] Sic i. q. “adeo.” “Non latuit scintilla ingeni quae iam tum elucebat in puero: sic erat in omni vel officio vel sermone sollers” Cic. Rep. 2. 21, cited by Freund. “Longa placidos in pace regebat” 7. 46.
[326] Color is used of the brightness of metal Hor. 2 Od. 2. 1: so here ‘decolor’ will mean having lost its brightness, said of brass or iron as compared with gold.
[327] Belli rabies like “insania belli” 7. 461 note. “Edendi rabies” 9. 63. “Amor habendi” G. 4. 177.
[328] For the various accounts of the succession of these nations see Lewis l. c. Virg. identifies the Sicani with the Siculi: others made the Sicani a Hiberian tribe who took refuge in Sicily, where they were living at the time of the immigration of the Siculi from Italy. Rom. has ‘Ausoniae,’ which was the reading before Heins.
[329] Nomen posuit, laid down its name, on receiving a new one. Elsewhere ‘nomen ponere’ is used of the giver of a name 7. 63. Virg. has told us 1. 530 foll. of three other names, Hesperia, Oenotria, and Italia, the first however being a Greek appellation. ‘Saturnia tellus’ need not imply that the land was ever called after Saturn, but merely that it was his land. He seems to be speaking of Italy generally, not merely of Latium.
[330] Tum denotes a point in enumeration (v. 285 &c.), not necessarily a different point in time from v. 328. ‘Reges asperque Thybris’ like “sacerdotes primusque Potitius” above v. 281. “Asper inmani corpore” Lucr. 5.33, of the serpent in the garden of the Hesperides. Serv. collects different notices of this Thybris, the one most germane to Virg.'s description representing him as a robberchief, and connecting his name with ὕβρις, a word, as others have remarked, associated with violent floods by Aesch. Prom. 717, Hdt. 1. 189. Livy 1. 3 makes Tiberinus a king of Alba.
[331] A quo cognomine may = “a cuius cognomine:” comp. 2. 171 &c.: or ‘cognomine’ may be adj., as in 6. 383. A third way would be to separate ‘quo’ from ‘cognomine,’ taking the latter with ‘diximus,’ by way of surname, as in 12. 845 &c. Evander, as Serv. remarks, identifies himself with the Italians, mentioning the name incidentally, a proof of the vagueness of Virg.'s historical notices. The general story seems to have been that Thybris or Tiberinus was drowned in the Albula: the version however which made him a robber-chief speaks of him simply as having lived on its banks.
[333] The cause of Evander's exile was variously given, some ascribing it to parricide or matricide: Lewis, p. 284. Virg. perhaps means to negative these stories, as Ovid does: see the next note. ‘Pelagi extrema sequentem,’ as Heyne remarks, is said in the character of an ancient Greek speaking of the unknown west. Donatus made ‘pelagi’ locative, taking ‘extrema sequentem’ of encountering dangers, not unlike “ferro extrema secutam” 6. 457. ‘Sequi’ is similarly used 10. 193., 12. 893, seeking a distant though unmoving object being regarded as tantamount to pursuing a flying one. Comp. 4. 361 note.
[334] Serv. notes that Fortune and Fate are not philosophically consistent. The inconsistency is kept up by the epithets, though they are apparently similar, ‘omnipotens’ referring Evander's landing to the all disposing power of chance, ‘ineluctabile’ to the destiny of his birth, which he could not escape. “Ineluctabile tempus” 2. 324, “inexorabile fatum” G. 2. 491. Ov. F. 1. 481 seems to refer to this passage when he makes Evander's mother say “Sic erat in fatis: nec te tua culpa fugavit, Sed deus,” though he is speaking of the cause of Evander's leaving home, not of the cause of his reaching Italy. But Virg. may include both: see the next line.
[335] Egere probably refers to the entire voyage, ‘drove me to leave my home and settle here.’ Comp. “acti fatis” 1. 33. The ‘tremenda monita’ of Carmentis are like the “iussa ingentia” of Apollo 7. 241, which is generally parallel. Rom. has ‘tremendae.’
[336] For Carmentis or Carmenta, and for the other accounts of Evander's parentage, see Lewis l. e. ‘Auctor Apollo’ 12. 405, in a different sense: with ‘auctor’ here comp. “fatis auctoribus” 10. 67.
[337-368] ‘Evander shows Aeneas the various places which afterwards became famous as parts of Rome, the Carmental gate, the Asylum, the Capitol, and the Forum. He welcomes him to his homely palace, and puts him to rest for the night.’
